Itch.io have announced that they are seeking out new payment processing partners who are more willing to handle the purchase of NSFW games, after delisting or removing a vast swathe of games in accordance with the content restrictions of companies such as Paypal and Stripe. They’ve also offered an explanation for why they’ve recently delisted so many more “infringing” games than Steam, which has carried out its own cull of sexually explicit games under pressure from finance firms. Finally, Itch have acknowledged that their recently posted list of newly prohibited adult material is far too vague to be useful.
Japanese developer ITL is returning to one of its DSiWare titles, Handy Hockey, and bringing it to the Switch 2 in just two days — on 31st July 2025 — for the bargain price of £5.00 / $7.00.
The original game launched as a DSiWare title back in 2010 and is a simple, neon-coloured air hockey game. However, it was exclusive to Japan. This version looks to be a polished-up version of the original, making it the first time it’s available in the West.
Hi there, I’m Miki Majka, Game Producer at Rock Square Thunder. Today, I want to give you a first look at the official gameplay trailer for our upcoming game, I Hate This Place, which is coming to PlayStation 5 later this year. It’s a craft-based, isometric survival horror experience all wrapped in bold comic-style visuals and soaked in a gritty 1980s horror atmosphere.
I also want to take you a little deeper into how we’re using sound as more than just atmosphere. In I Hate This Place, silence isn’t simply golden — it can mean the difference between life and death.
But first, let’s take a look at the gameplay trailer:
These creatures hunt by sound
As you probably noticed in the video, the world of I Hate This Place is filled with a lot of nightmarish, otherworldly creatures from a rather eerie and distorted world. But what might not be so clear is that many of these hulking monstrosities can barely see. Instead, they stalk their prey (you) by sound, so all your actions and movements need to be thought out. Every footstep, every gunshot, every clang of metal can give off your location.
So whether you’re creeping through overgrown woods or navigating decrepit facilities, the surface beneath your sneakers matters. A slow, crouched shuffle across grass will likely be ignored. A careless stomp on broken glass, not so much.
Making visual noise
To take this system further and make it more clever to players, we also made sound into a visual language, where noise is color-coded. It’s a unique visual system inspired to tie in with the game’s comic book art style. For example:
Green footsteps mean you’re quiet, crouched, moving slowly, minimizing risk Yellow signals you’re walking at a normal pace and making moderate noise Red means you’re running or being loud, and you’re a beacon for danger
This color-coded feedback system doesn’t just apply to footsteps, though. Gunfire, thrown objects, even the howls and attacks of enemies all follow the same noise-visibility rules, helping you judge just how much noise all of your actions are creating.
Sound as a weapon
Just as sound can get you killed, it can also be used to your advantage and become your most useful weapon.
With a bit of strategy and planning, you can lure monsters away from key areas or into your cleverly laid traps. Tossing an empty can down a hallway or into the underbrush might attract a nearby creature, giving you the opening you need to escape.
With a bit more planning and thought, you can try to herd enemies together into the perfect spot to then toss that grenade or molatov cocktail you happened to scrounge.
Stealth is your friend
Combat in I Hate This Place is about choosing your battles wisely. Many of the creatures you’ll encounter are brutal, and even more so when night falls. Going in guns blazing is doable, but maybe not always the right move. Ammo is scarce, noise is dangerous, and enemies are unforgiving.
So the next time you feel tempted to sprint across an open field or you think firing off a shotgun blast in a tight corridor is a good idea, think twice. In I Hate This Place, it is not just what you do, it is how loud you are when you do it. Instead, you can rely on stealth, movement, and manipulation. Using the terrain, sound cues, and enemy behavior against them becomes second nature as you learn to navigate the environment and survive it.
That’s it for today’s deep dive about our combat and potentially sound-induced paranoia!
The new sci-fi set will take us to space, and there are new synergies emerging already. This week’s movers and shakers include cards with spaceships and aliens in mind, thanks to data from TCGPlayer.
Climbers: Return of The Gaffer
Players have already spotted a lot of potential in The Gaffer, a three-cost white card who turns lifegain into card advantage.
This card from The Lord of the Rings is seeing a climb ahead of Edge of Eternities, reaching $9 and up, thanks to synergies with Ragost, Deft Gastronaut. It was just $2 not long ago.
Next up, we mentioned Thrumming Hivepool last week, and Hatchery Sliver is another shoo-in for Sliver decks with Edge of Eternities. It’s slithered its way to over $10 pretty quickly.
Sticking with Slivers, The First Sliver from Modern Horizons saw a steep drop but has now started to pick up. Giving your Sliver spells Cascade, and offering a 7/7 body in its own right, it’s likely to be a nuisance to play against, and it’s now $30.
The last Edge of Eternities synergy this week is Sylvan Safekeeper, which plays on the land sacrificing theme of the World Shaper Commander precon. It’s up to $8 and climbing.
Finally, it wouldn’t be a Crashers and Climbers without something to do with the Tidus deck, and this week it’s Wave Goodbye, which sends a board’s worth of cards back to an owner’s hand if their cards don’t have a counter on them.
Crashers: Big Beasts and Baddies
This week’s crashers are well worth a look for just about anyone. First up, Summon: Primal Odin from Final Fantasy is now under $2. Given you can manipulate his lore counters with the right setup, you can keep Zantetsuken primed to deal game-ending damage to players.
One more Final Fantasy one, and it’s Ultima, Origin of Oblivion. This 4/4 could be an ideal inclusion in colorless decks since it gets you double colorless mana, but it also ‘blights’ an opponent’s land. It’s just a dollar.
Next up, we switch our focus to Dragons. Tarkir: Dragonstorm remains one of my favorite sets of this year, and Betor, Kin to All was arguably a better inclusion in the Abzan Armor deck than Betor, Ancestor’s Voice. Now you can right that wrong for under $4.
Sticking with alternative versions of Commanders from the set’s precons, Ureni, the Song Unending is down to under $3 and could be devastating if you can pull enough lands before introducing it.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
Monster Hunter Wilds is now set to get an endgame revamp earlier than originally advertised, with Capcom having opted to chuck their established update plans for the next few months out of a window. Well, I say that, all they’ve really done is move around some bits.
While performance issues have proven to be the main achilles heel of the action game about hunning mons, the stuff you’re left to do once you’ve slapped up Arkveld has been another source of player ire.
IGN’s Donkey Kong Bananza maps are here! Our interactive maps track essential locations across the game’s various layers, including Lagoon Layer, Hilltop Layer, The Divide, and more. If you’re looking for collectibles, such as Banandium Gems and Fossils, or simply want to see all the Challenge locations, you’re in the right place.
Challenges, including Battles, Shifty Smashes, and Courses.
Other miscellaneous map markers.
Donkey Kong Bananza Guides
While you’re adventuring through the various layers in DK Bananza, make sure to head over to IGN’s Donkey Kong Bananza wiki. We have a whole host of guides to assist you, including:
Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides team, with a focus on trends. When she’s not working, you can find her playing an RPG or cuddling her corgi.
There are a number of official Jumanji video games, but they don’t seem very Jumanjish to me. You’ve got a bunch of nineties-to-noughties minigame compilations, a pachinko adaptation, and a few reportedly dismal games based on the recent Dwayne Johnson movies, also feat. Steve off Infiniminer and Amy Pond from Dr Avenger: Endgame.
Ludogram’s just-announced streamerbait co-op horror game Invokyr seems to be cleaving a lot closer to the 1995 movie, which is itself based on Chris Van Allsburg’s book from 1981. The game sees you and up to three others playing a cursed boardgame that transforms the house it’s played in.
Obsidian recently made a lot of hay out of how it’s a studio that’s best known for sequels, and with Grounded 2’s early access version already shaping up to be one of the best survival games I’ve ever played, the marketing team should have plenty of fodder for that bit for years to come. This miniaturized survival game isn’t even half complete, with only one act (which took me around 25 hours to beat), just a handful of regions, and plenty of technical issues to iron out, but it already eclipses the already stellar original in practically every way. Stomping through the park atop an ant or spider simultaneously makes travel faster and more interesting while also solving my long-standing inventory gripes with Grounded 1 by letting you offload your loot to a multi-legged backpack; the RPG mechanics of building into specific specializations like warrior and mage have been seriously leveled up and streamlined; and the story, characters, and pacing are a massive step up compared to its predecessor.
If you missed the first one (and you really shouldn’t have), part of what makes both of these games special is their premise, which realizes a dream that pretty much everybody had as a kid: they’re survival RPGs where you and up to three friends play as a group of teens who have been shrunken down to the size of ants and are made to brave a miniature suburban wilderness, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids-style. You and up to three friends will battle bugs, build bases out of grass and pebbles, face off against an evil corporation obsessed with shrinking kids for some reason, and get lost in a world that feels magical and epic despite taking place in the most mundane places ever, like the inside of a trash can.
Where the original’s excellent story was the best-kept secret in gaming (mostly due to the fact that story bits were separated by dozens of hours of survival gameplay) the sequel keeps its goofy characters and hilarious dialogue front and center. In true Obsidian fashion, this is one of the most laugh-out-loud-funny games I’ve played in a while; each of the four returning protagonists is way too comfortable with the idea of being shrunken this time and are bursting with smarmy one-liners, and your main “ally” and guide, Sloane Beaumont, gives one of my favorite performances with her vaguely evil stepmother routine that never failed to put a smile on my face.
In true Obsidian fashion, this is one of the most laugh-out-loud-funny games I’ve played in a while.
Moving from a backyard to a park allows for some interesting new areas, my favorite of which is an overturned ice cream cart that has transformed the entire region into a frigid wasteland where unprepared travelers will freeze in their tracks. There’s also a giant statue that acts like a foreboding tower which demands to be scaled, and a garden of cobblestone steps that serves as a vast labyrinth. Beyond these examples, though, there are currently too few areas that feel special and unique – you’ll also find a big bush filled with branches to navigate, a fallen grill that serves as a volcanic area, and a picnic table, but all of those ideas are taken straight from the previous game’s backyard setting and don’t mix things up too much. The first Grounded also has a neat koi pond water area, a bug-bombed zone filled with poison, and a desert-like sandbox, but this new map doesn’t currently have that same level of variety yet. Of course, many of those were added during Grounded 1’s own early access development period, and there are still massive parts of the park currently roped off – so assuming something doesn’t go terribly wrong (and in this day and age, that’s not necessarily a guarantee), it’s reasonable to assume that Obsidian has some big ideas to roll out before 1.0.
A lot of the fundamentals from the first Grounded have returned, including enemies like red ants and orb weavers, weapons like the life-draining mosquito needle rapier, and mechanics like the mutation system and weapon upgrades that will all feel pretty familiar as of now. But Grounded 2 also doesn’t shy away from trying new things and making important improvements, like how you no longer need to carry around a shovel, ax, and hammer since it’s all been replaced with a much better omni-tool that you always have on hand and doesn’t require repairing. That’s just handy!
One massive change is the fact that you can now build into specific classes, like rogue or mage, with armor and weapons available to support different playstyles. This was already sort of an unofficial thing in the original, but now you get equipment specially designed with certain functions in mind and stat bonuses to go with them, which is really freakin’ cool. Getting to choose between turning my nerdy teen into a fast-moving rogue with a deadly dagger or a lumbering brute with a two-handed weapon and ladybug shell armor was exactly the kind of thing I didn’t know was missing, and it absolutely rules.
Grounded 2 doesn’t shy away from trying new things and making important improvements.
The biggest addition, though, is that you can now hatch and domesticate insects to use as your own personal exo-stallions, which completely changes how you navigate the wilderness. Instead of building ziplines or trekking everywhere on foot, you can now scramble across the entire map in no time at all and even battle mosquitos and beetles from your mounted beastie. Right now there’s only two mounts available, but they’re both absolutely badass gamechangers: a red soldier ant that can carry a ton of materials and chew through obstructions with its powerful mandibles, and a giant orb weaver that can crawl across spiderwebs and scare lesser bugs away with a mighty spider roar. The ability to dash across the map in less than a minute also means that now when a friend finds themselves in a tight spot, you can summon your warbeast and race to their aid, which wasn’t always a real option in the original.
I love what I’ve seen in those areas, but one place I hope Obsidian will eventually show some more love is base building, which is disappointingly similar to the original right now. Its mechanics are still serviceable enough to get the job done, but too often I’m getting the same old error messages that some object I was trying to place was obstructed when there’s no obstruction in sight, and some building surfaces (like pebble foundation) are so uneven that placing items leaves them so hilariously askew that it’s just unacceptably ugly. It seems like one of the least-improved areas in its current state.
Another thing that could use some love is enemy variety, since the vast majority of baddies you’ll find in Grounded 2 are ripped straight from its predecessor, so I already knew all their moves before I set foot in the park. Occasionally I’ve run into some new creatures, like ice-breathing butterflies that fight with the ferocity and tactics of a dragon, or praying mantises that use their razor-sharp claws to slice me to pieces, but more often than not I was killing the same ants, orb weavers, and larvae I’ve already slain thousands of. For that matter, right now Grounded 2 is even missing lots of the enemies found in the original (or, if they are here, I haven’t looked under the right rock yet), like black ox beetles and wasps – but, again, there’s a pretty good chance Obsidian is saving these monsters (or better yet, revised versions of them) for the later areas that aren’t accessible just yet.
As for how it runs, this is a fairly rough one even as early access games go. Especially since the last one still didn’t perform the best even well after it reached its 1.0 version, I wasn’t expecting it to run flawlessly, but even with those expectations set, this was reliably unreliable. After building a good-sized base and chopping down a bunch of grass, I found that the area near my home regularly had serious framerate issues, my game crashed about once every five or so hours, enemies would occasionally get stuck inside objects, and more. “Unfinished game feels unfinished” is hardly a surprise, I know, but this is still enough of an issue that it’s likely to prove a sticking point for those with a low tolerance for the wrong kind of bugs. I tend to have a fairly short fuse when it comes to this stuff, so it’s a testament to how great everything else is that I’m still so high on Grounded 2 after having to put up with all of it.
The game will “benefit” from the Switch 2 specs, though.
We’re two days away from the release of Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, Dotemu and The Game Kitchen’s gorgeous pixel art spin-off from the Ninja Gaiden series (which is experiencing something of a comeback lately). And ahead of the game’s launch, publisher Dotemu has some potentially disappointing news for Switch owners.
The Switch 1 version “will average a 30 FPS experience at launch”, the publisher announced, while other platforms will hit a solid 60fps. Not the best news, but it’s par-the-course for many games on the older hybrid.
It’s time to get shrunk, gear up, and enter Brookhollow Park in Grounded 2, out in Xbox Game Preview and Steam Early Access today. Grounded 2 takes us – and the first game’s cast of teenagers – to some brand-new bug-stomping grounds, and this world is bigger, denser, and holds many more secrets and stories to uncover than the Backyard we played in previously.
But if you haven’t played the first Grounded, don’t worry about things you may have missed. Grounded 2 is built to be a welcoming entry point for new players, and the best possible Grounded experience all round.
“Grounded 2 gave us a fresh start, a chance to rebuild the game from the ground up, push the world further, and finally introduce features like mounts, new biome structures, and a more narrative-driven experience,” says Chris Parker, Game Director on Grounded 2.
“The story begins fresh, and we’ve designed the world, tools, and pacing to be more approachable from the start. Whether you’re into survival systems, co-op gameplay, weird bugs, or just want to explore a wild suburban park with friends, this is the best way to experience what makes Grounded special.”
The park is full of sizeable perils for such tiny folk, but fear not, we’ve been in and among the weeds (literally) to bring you some top tips for getting started on your adventure in Grounded 2. Grab your Omni-Tool, and hop in.
Analyze Everything
Everything you’ll gather up in Grounded 2 has a use, and scanning items at a Resource Analyzer is the best way to find out what they do. Doing so also unlocks new crafting recipes, unveiling new creations that you can build with said component. Be sure to scan every new ingredient that you find before you use it; anything from plant resources to bug bits may reveal something super useful for your adventure, whether it’s a piece of furniture or powerful armor for those dangerous escapades (such as the possibility of a spider unceremoniously stomping through your base).
Get Armed
Even with only one section unlocked for Game Preview launch, Brookhollow Park is a vibrant, inviting space with nearly as much ground to explore as the entirety of the original Grounded– but danger will find you fast. Without the right tools, even a tiny pack of mites can catch you and leave you suffering.
Before you venture too far from your home base, be sure to craft some basic weapons – a crude Pebblet Spear will help you take down small bugs at first, but a bow for long range combat or a Warhammerlet for heavy stun attacks are also great options that can be crafted from easily accessible components. You’ll also want to make some armor as soon as possible – I quickly crafted the Red Ant armor set for some early game protection (sorry to the friendly ants) which gave me some much-needed confidence in working through missions and finding new supplies.
Bag Your Buggy
Exploring such a vast landscape on such little legs feels like a monumental feat, so we’d recommend working toward the questline that unlocks the Buggy – Grounded 2’s new insect mounts – a priority in your first hours. This can be a tough task to get through – you’ll need to do a fair bit of hunting for all of the right components, and the final part – securing a Red Ant Soldier Egg – means taking on a fair few powerful foes. Make sure you armor up, pack some strong weapons, and craft some healing items before venturing to go get it.
These mounts – starting with a strong Red Ant Soldier – are fresh additions in Grounded 2, and will help you swiftly traverse the park with ease. Not only that, but your Buggy pal can help you carry heavy items used for base building, support you in combat, and gobble up smaller items in bulk so you don’t have to dismount and slowly pick them up one by one. The Buggy makes all the difference when there’s so much to do and see, so be sure to get it as soon as possible.
Stay Supplied
With so much to do it’s easy to forget that Grounded 2 is a survival game, and the sudden need to eat and drink will creep up on you. Luckily, the park is teeming with edible wildlife, and building a Roasting Spit will let you cook bug parts you’ve harvested. Water can be found dotted around the park too, but we’d recommend crafting a Canteen at the workbench so you’ll always have a drink or two on hand. The recipe for the Canteen is unlocked by scanning Grub Hide, and Grubs are pretty easy to find and take down once you unlock the Omni-Tool shovel upgrade – you’ll often spot them rumbling around underground. Keep a few snacks on you at all times and an eye on those sustenance levels. Just don’t slurp the nasty water. Don’t do that.
Swot Up on Science
Upgrading your Omni-Tool – a new tool that combines the axe, shovel, hammer and wrench into one single, handy piece of equipment – will make survival much easier. To do that, you’ll need to earn Raw Science points, which can be primarily accumulated from scanning items at the Resource Analyzer, or completing Ranger Challenges which can be picked up at Ranger Stations dotted around Brookhollow Park. Raw Science points can be spent at these spots too – either to add additional skills to your faithful Omni-Tool, or at the Science Shop which lets you exchange Raw Science points for cooking recipes, building components, decorative pieces, and other useful upgrades.
We hope these tips are helpful, whether you’re getting shrunk again or preparing for your first adventure in Grounded’s large, tiny world.
Grounded 2 is available in Game Preview today for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, and Xbox Cloud, in Early Access on Steam, and with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. And with Xbox Play Anywhere, a single purchase lets you play with Xbox consoles and Xbox on PC with full cross-saves – at no additional cost.
Shrunk again, but the world is much larger. Survive a sprawling open world alone or in co-op with friends. Craft weapons, forge armor, and build bases while exploring the park on your trusty Buggy mounts. Unravel hidden mysteries and face unexpected threats. But something else is out there—and it hasn’t forgotten you.
Shrunk to the size of an ant, you’ll find once-familiar spaces turned into a sprawling, uncharted frontier. Survive alone or in co-op with friends, crafting weapons, forging armor, and building bases as you explore manmade playgrounds overgrown by nature. Traverse this new realm on trusty Buggy mounts—your capable allies—and uncover the mysteries lurking beneath bright colors and towering structures. But stay wary: something else is out there, and it hasn’t forgotten you.
Survive, Adapt, Overcome
The world is relentless, but so are you. Shape your adventure with unique archetypes, each offering distinct abilities to match your playstyle. Whether you rely on precision, cunning, or sheer strength, you’ll need every advantage to survive against the threats lurking in the park.
Stronger Together
The perils of the park are daunting alone, but with friends, every challenge becomes an adventure. Work together to build, fight, and uncover the secrets buried beneath the grass. Whether you’re facing danger side by side or continuing your journey in a shared world, survival is always better with allies.
Because Walking is Bogus
They scurry, they fight, and now—they help you survive. Hatch, raise, and ride your own insect friends – Buggies! Saddle up and traverse through the park, fight on them or alongside them in battle, or use them to gather resources and build your base. The right partner could mean the difference between thriving and barely surviving.
A Shadow That Follows You
The threat is always there—watching, learning, waiting. You don’t know where it’s coming from, only that it never leaves. The deeper you dig, the closer it gets. Some mysteries should stay buried, but it’s too late now. It knows you’re looking. And it’s ready. Every answer drags you deeper, every step invites something closer. You were never alone. You thought you were in control. You were wrong.
